In this episode, Lucas joins our host and producer Ace to explore the history of student protests in 20th-century Lebanon. Together, they unpack why these movements can only be fully understood through the lens of class politics and the social forces that shaped them.

Tune in for a wide-ranging conversation on the inseparability of class from broader struggles such as the Palestinian movement, Arab nationalism, and resistance to tuition hikes, as well as the challenge of adapting a thesis in the wake of major global political events. Lucas also shares practical insights on organizing research notes, navigating archival work, and how a thesis can evolve beyond Reed—his now taking shape as a book.

Reed community members can read Lucas’s thesis, “Class in the Maelstrom: Class Conflict and Nationalism on the Lebanese Campus from the Six-Day War to the Civil War (1967–1975)” online in the Electronic Thesis Archive.